Haunted Schools is a guide to reportedly haunted college campuses, high schools and schoolhouses across the United States. Each page covers one school and the ghost stories attached to it, from a dormitory or a theater to a hallway or a grandfather clock.
Documented history is kept separate from legend, and the stories are presented as local folklore, not as proven fact. Most of these places are working schools and are not open to the public. Pick one below to start reading.
Featured schools
California State University – Sacramento, CA
The campus theater, where a young man who died during construction is said to linger by the scene shop elevator, the catwalks and the light booth.
Carroll College, Helena, Montana
Tales of two student deaths in St. Charles Hall and a nun said to walk the top floor of St. Albert’s Hall.
Central Michigan University – Mount Pleasant, MI: Legends of the Dark and the Records Behind the Ghosts
The student-run Legends of the Dark tour, the documented 1930s and 1951 deaths behind Warriner and Barnard Hall, and which tour stories the record does not support.
Coe College – Cedar Rapids, IA
Helen Roberts, a first-year student who died in the 1918 flu, the Voorhees Hall clock, and where the sources disagree.
Concordia College – Moorhead, MN: Dolly Larson and the Theatre’s Al Gersbach
The ghosts the college’s own archive has written down: Dolly Larson in Fjelstad Hall and the Al Gersbach name on theatre programs.
CSU Channel Islands – Camarillo, CA: The Former Camarillo State Hospital and the Stories Students Tell
A university built on a state hospital: the documented history, the people who lived and died there, and the ghost stories students tell.
Decatur High School – Decatur, AL
White figures and footsteps reported in the halls of a school built in 1950, a ghost story with no name and no backstory.
DePauw University – Greencastle, IN
A governor’s ghost said to guard a book of Ossian’s poems, and why the story cannot be traced before the 1990s.
Drake Municipal Observatory – Des Moines, IA: Daniel Morehouse’s Ashes and the Observatory Ghost Stories
An observatory that holds the ashes of its first director, and the ghost stories told about it.
Eastern Illinois University – Charleston, IL: Pemberton Hall and the Real Mary Hawkins
Mary, the protective housemother ghost of Pemberton Hall, and the real matron, Mary Hawkins, behind the legend.
Florida State University – Tallahassee, FL: Gallows Hill, the Westcott Fountain and the Ghosts of Cawthon Hall
A documented 1820s hanging on Gallows Hill, the Westcott Fountain and two Cawthon Hall ghost stories, with the history kept apart from the legends.
Fourth Ward School – Virginia City, NV
The 1875 schoolhouse, now a museum, and the legend of Miss Suzette, a teacher said to vanish at the front steps.
Gorman School – Gorman, CA
A school building from 1938 and the ghost story told about it, from a 1989 Los Angeles Times report to later retellings.
Green Mountain College – Poultney, VT
A Vermont college that closed in 2019, and the legend of a worker who lived and died alone in the attic.
Harding University – Searcy, AR: Gertie and the Ghost of a Building That No Longer Stands
A Galloway-era ghost story, a 1950 student editor’s tall tale, and the bricks of a demolished hall that carried it across campus.
Harvard College – Cambridge, MA: Holbrook Smith and the Ghost Stories of Harvard Yard
Holbrook Smith in Massachusetts Hall, a Hollis Hall “ghost” of 1940 and a Weld Hall sighting, set against what Harvard’s records say.
Henderson State University – Arkadelphia, AR
The Lady in Black, said to return to the women’s dorms every homecoming week, and the school rivalry behind the legend.
Hood College – Frederick, MD: Brodbeck Music Hall, a Lightning Fire and Campus Ghost Stories
The oldest building at Hood, built in 1868 and closed since a 2021 lightning fire, and the campus ghost stories the college says lack evidence.
Huntingdon College – Montgomery, AL: The Red Lady and the Building That No Longer Stands
A Montgomery campus ghost in red, a 1931 yearbook, and what happened when her dormitory was torn down.
Indiana University Bloomington – Bloomington, IN
A Woman in Black reported in the student paper in 1911, Owen Hall and the Auditorium, and which popular IU legends the record does not support.
Iowa State University – Ames, IA
The Farm House Museum, Edith’s curtains, Esther Wilson and Gold Star Hall, with the documented history behind each.
Kansas State University – Manhattan, KS: Nick at the Purple Masque and the Delta Sig House
A football player said to haunt an old theatre, and a fraternity house that was once a hospital.
Lewis and Clark Community College – Godfrey, IL: Harriet Haskell and the Monticello Library Ghost
Harriet Haskell’s library ghost, and where the story departs from the Monticello Seminary record.
Lourdes High School, Chicago, IL
Students, teachers and custodians report footsteps and music in the halls that no one has traced to a source.
Luther College – Decorah, IA: Gertrude, Larsen Hall and What the College’s Own Records Say
The Gertrude legend in Larsen Hall, checked against the college’s own history guide: what is documented and what has no record.
McCluer Senior High School, Florissant, MO
A school opened in 1957 and the 1790s Taille de Noyer house on its grounds, where figures in early 1800s clothing are reported.
Millikin University – Decatur, IL: Rail Girl, Aston Hall and the Old Gym
Rail Girl, a 1927 death in Aston Hall and a demolished gym: what Millikin’s records show and what is campus folklore.
Mount St. Mary’s University – Emmitsburg, MD: Father Bruté, Room 252 and the Dates That Do Not Fit
A ghost story that puts Father Bruté in Room 252, set beside the dates: he died in 1839 and the hall was begun in 1843.
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Old Coaly, the university mule said to haunt Watts Hall, and an unexplained poltergeist report from Runkle Hall in 1994.
Saint John’s University – Collegeville, MN: The Great Hall Monk and the Real Deaths Behind the Legends
The archive traced the campus ghost stories to three real 1800s deaths and found the best-known tale was invented in 1966.
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota – Winona, MN: The Heffron Hall Ghost and the Real 1915 Shooting
A bishop shot in 1915 who survived, and how a 1967 student paper turned it into a ghost story the university says was made up.
San Francisco Art Institute – San Francisco, CA: The Bell Tower Ghost, a Paper Trail from 1947 and a Graveyard That Is Not There
A bell tower ghost with a paper trail from 1963 to 1985, a graveyard story that has none, and a campus closed to visitors.
Santa Barbara City College – Santa Barbara, CA
A woman in a white shawl, reported floating over the lawn near the ocean bluff before vanishing in a blue flash.
Seattle Central Community College – Seattle, WA
A 1907 building once home to Broadway High School and an art school, and the spirit nicknamed Burnley.
Simpson College – Indianola, IA: Mildred Hedges and the College Hall Legend
A College Hall ghost story, from Mildred Hedges’s real history to the 1977 first sighting, sorted into the record and the legend.
U.S. Naval Academy – Annapolis, MD: John Paul Jones’s Crypt and the Contested Sutton Case
A crypt legend and the documented 1907 death of a Marine lieutenant, with the Navy’s 1909 findings and what remains legend.
U.S. Naval Postgraduate School – Monterey, CA: The Man in Gray, the Hotel Del Monte and What the Dates Show
Herrmann Hall, once the Hotel Del Monte: the man in gray legend, the documented history and where the dates do not agree.
University of Alabama – Tuscaloosa, AL: The Woods Hall Duel, the Gorgas Family and the Buildings That Survived 1865
A documented 1877 shooting at Woods Hall, the family that lived in the Gorgas House, and why the library elevator ghost is a modern story.
University of Minnesota – Minneapolis, MN
Howling in Walter Library, a Pioneer Hall tale that is pure folklore, and footsteps on the Washington Avenue Bridge.
University of Montevallo – Montevallo, AL: Condie Cunningham and the Main Hall Fire
A documented 1908 dormitory fire, the ghost legend built on it, and which of Montevallo’s other campus stories hold up.
University of Washington, College Inn Pub – Seattle, WA
Howard Bok, said to be a murdered sailor, reported in the pub’s Snug Room after closing time.
State roundups
Illinois Campus Legends: Western Illinois, Morton College, Maryknoll
Three Illinois campus legends sorted into what the record shows and what is folklore: Simpkins Hall’s Harold, Morton College’s Emily and Maryknoll’s phantom priest.
Minnesota Campus Legends: Moorhead State, St. Cloud State and Mankato
Weld Hall, a St. Cloud State library built over a pioneer cemetery and Mankato’s dorm ghost: what the records show and what is only legend.
Guides
How to Run a Campus Ghost Walk This Halloween
A planning guide for a one-hour campus ghost walk: gathering stories, choosing a route and keeping real history and legend apart.